Baker names review panel as third high court justice plans to retire

State Supreme Court Justices Robert Cordy, Fernande Duffly and Francis Spina, 69 all will retire this summe (STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE)

BOSTON -- Setting the stage for significant turnover on the state's highest court, another Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court member on Wednesday announced plans to retire before the next full session of the court begins, the third retirement announcement in a week.

Justice Fernande Duffly, who was appointed to the high court by Gov. Deval Patrick in 2011, will retire from the bench July 12, the court announced. In a statement, Duffly said she planned to retire next year, but expedited her plans to help care for her husband.

Gov. Charlie Baker, who suddenly needs to produce three high court nominees, named a 12-member Supreme Judicial Court Nominating Commission to recruit and screen applicants. Baker's chief legal counsel Lon Povich will co-chair the commission with Paul Dacier, chair of the 21-member Judicial Nominating Commission (JNC) and executive vice president and general counsel of EMC Corporation.

The special panel, which will operate adjacent to the JNC with a focus specifically on the high court, will accept applications for the three positions through March 18. The group also includes retired corporate counsels, former SJC Chief Justice Roderick Ireland and Lisa Arrowood, the president of the Boston Bar Association.

"It has been a privilege to serve as a jurist in the Trial Court, the Appeals Court and the Supreme Judicial Court.

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My years on the bench confirm for me that broad and diverse perspectives make an enormous contribution to the decision making process," Duffly said in the statement. "I had planned to leave the bench after serving for 25 years as a judge in 2017. When my husband's recent surgery required me to devote more of my time to helping him fully recover, I moved up my retirement date."

At 66, Duffly would not have had to retire until December 2019, when she will turn 70. Last week, justices Robert Cordy, 66, and Francis Spina, 69, announced their intentions to retire this summer.

Because two more SJC judges -- justices Margot Botsford and Geraldine Hines -- will reach the mandatory judicial retirement age of 70 before the end of Gov. Charlie Baker's term, Baker is now assured the opportunity to nominate five justices to the seven-justice high court in a single term, shaping the court and its judicial philosophy.

"In effect there is going to be a brand new court, which is a great upside for a governor to really leave his indelible mark for years to come," Martin Healy, chief legal counsel and chief operating officer of the Massachusetts Bar Association, said. "The only negative I see is that the court, just by the hemorrhaging of judges, is going to lose a tremendous amount of institutional knowledge that comes from individuals who have served on the bench for years."

Duffly began her legal career as an attorney and then partner at the Boston firm Warner and Stackpole in 1978 and, working through the Volunteer Lawyers Project, provided pro bono legal services to indigent clients.

Former Chief Justice Margaret Marshall recalled crossing paths with Duffly during a time when female partners in law firms "were few in number."

"I have known Justice Duffly for almost forty years: we met as young lawyers in Boston," Marshall, who stepped down as chief justice in 2010 also to care for her husband, said in a statement. "I have always admired her commitment to access to justice for all and to strengthening the diversity of the bar. It is no surprise that she is recognized nationally for her many efforts to make ours a more inclusive profession, and a more just democracy."

Born in Indonesia to a Chinese mother and a Dutch father, Duffly immigrated with her parents to Oregon when she was six years old.

Duffly served on the Probate and Family Court from 1992 to 2000 and on the Massachusetts Appeals Court from 2000 until 2011, when Patrick nominated her to the SJC. She became the SJC's first Asian-American justice when she was sworn in.

"Informed by her own unique life experience, she has brought to her judicial work a keen insight into the challenges faced by immigrants, women, and persons of color," SJC Chief Justice Ralph Gants said in a statement. "In her national leadership roles, including as a past President of the National Association of Women Judges, she has been a frequent lecturer, mentor and role model to women judges and lawyers in this country and around the world. I will miss her friendship, her wisdom, and her generosity of spirit."

In a press release, the Baker administration said it would seek SJC applicants "who possess the temperament, ability and integrity to freely, impartially and independently interpret the laws and administer justice, and to work collaboratively with their colleagues in crafting opinions and administering the judicial branch of government. It also hopes to recruit applicants who represent not only the geographically diverse parts of the Commonwealth, but also the diversity of our citizens."

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